Dick Smith vs Harry Triguboff

Did you know that in Australia, the wealthiest 1% have the same wealth as the bottom 70%? That is the top 1% living in this country have the same wealth as 17 million Australians combined.

With 5 million Australians living pay packet to pay packet with no reserves at all, wouldn’t it be great if we could motivate the super rich to be a bit more generous?

Dick has issued a challenge to one of Australia’s richest men, Harry Triguboff, to sign up to Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge and give 1 billion dollars to charity.

“I think Harry’s fantastic, but he’s our wealthiest bloke in Australia but he’s not known as a philanthropist,” Smith told A Current Affair.

Harry, you’ve gone from being worth $4.8 billion to $11.4 billion in five years, in that time typical Aussies have actually gone backwards.

And what about back in the old days when all the wealthy were known as philanthropists?

Harry, just as the late Dr Tony Kidman got others to dig deep and it made them feel really good, with a lot of self-satisfaction, please set up a $1 billion Foundation in Australia. I ask you to copy Twiggy Forrest and not claim the tax on setting up your Foundation. That’s what Twiggy Forrest did with his $400 million. What a fantastic example.

Dick would love for you and your friends to come up with any suggestions on how we can get Harry (and other Aussie billionaires) to join the 173 pledgers from 22 countries who have signed The Giving Pledge, or to set up charitable foundations to assist those who are less well off.

He’d be really interested to hear your thoughts on this issue, so if you are a Facebook user, please visit the Dick Smith Fair Go page to leave your comments.